Friday 1.22.10

Oarlock

Ahah! My 2nd oarlock broke. While not entirely surprising, it was once again comical and action-packed. I was right in the middle of the canal, at the mouth, just like last time. This time, however, a barge was moving swiftly toward me. Hah-ah! And I was just then thinking, I’ll just work on this here, what on earth could happen to me?! The barge came, I suppose, in answer to my question. I could obliterate you in one fell swoop. I see. I scurried to the west side of the canal with my one oar and tied to a dock to roll the sleeve off of my oar and replace the lock.

Artist-in-Residence

I met Saaduuts Peele at the Center for Wooden Boats. He is their current artist-in-residence. He is Native American. He was wearing a beautiful sterling silver necklace with a turquoise stone around his neck. He told me about his work at the CWB, carving dugout canoes. They are gifted to various tribes once they are finished. He was a long tall slow man with generous amounts of glossy dark hair. One day I plan to come back and watch him work. I have seen the dugout boats in construction under the gazebo, heavy and long, roughly chopped.

The Truth

This morning, I sat in on another critique. Fascinating process! Very big picture. Questions arose such as: What do we believe? How can we tell the truth? What is the truth of this building? In the afternoon, I struggled again with the alleyway. What does it want? Was is its truth? I am determined to work this weekend, to approach the blue line again while the workers are away. I am wanting to finish it in one fell swoop, much as that barge this morning deigned to finish the poet, whoosh.